Collapsible paper-reel.



D. W. HUDSON. COLLAPSIBLE PAPER REEL. APPLICATION FILED MAR.3, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

\OLU-HIA PLANOGRAPII CO-.WI\SHINGTON. D, a.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914. v

D. W. HUDSON.

' GOLLAPSIBLB PAPER REEL. APPLICATION :ILEI) MAR. a, 1913.

Patented Feb. 24,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co WASHINGTON, n. c.

DAVID W. HUDSON, OF GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN.

COLLAPSIIBLE PAPER-REEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24;, 1914:.

Application filed March 3, 1913. SeriaINo. 751,782.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID WILLIAM HUD- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Green Bay, in the county of Brown and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collapsible Paper-Reels; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and 'use the same.

This invention relates to paper manufactures, and more especially it is a reel upon which a strip of paper may be rolled and afterward cut or severed at one point in the periphery of the reel so as to divide the strip into articles of equal size, such as paper napkins. In order that the lines of division between the diiferent articles printed upon the strip (as the border or outline of paper napkins, for instance) may fall respectively over each other, it becomes necessary to reduce the size of the paper reel intermittently and simultaneously with its rotation, and the present invention is an improvement in the means for effecting such reduction in the size of the reel.

The details of the invention are carried out in the manner hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein- Figure 1 is an elevation of this machine complete, Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 1 is an enlarged section on the line 4l4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, and more especially in Fig. 1, I have shown two of these improved reels mounted in suitable hearings in a pair of uprights 1, but as the reels are duplicates of each other I need describe but one. The shaft of the reel may be made in sections as best seen in Fig. 3. The left-hand section 2 is jo-urnaled in a bearing 3 and squared at its inner end as at 4; the intermediate section 5 is squared at both ends as at 6; and the right hand section 7 is squared at one end as at 8 and is journaled in a bearing 9 and carries a drive wheel 10. Said squared ends are inserted in sockets of two members which might well be called hubs 11, and for an extremely long reel there might be more than two of such hubs, although ordinarily I find two of them suflicient; and as they are alike I need describe but one. Each hub by preference is made of two castings having flanges 12 connected by bolts 13, and when the latter are removed access to the interior can be had; and each half of the casting may well carry a socket for the squared ends of the contiguous shaft-section. Where these two castings come together they are grooved to produce bearings 14: for what may well be called spokes 15, of which each hub carries two as seen in Fig. 4, although by preference they are made in the form of a single rod passing completely through the hub and carrying a worm gear 16 within it, their outer ends being oppositely threaded as at 17 as shown.

The rim of the reel is made up of two curved plates 18 riveted as at 19 to flanges 20 extending in opposite directions from long nuts 21 which are threaded onto the outer ends 17 of said spokes as seen in Fig.

4: and one plate and its nut is provided with a kerf 22 for a purpose yet to appear. It follows that when the gear 16 is rotated in one direction the right-hand left threads 17 at opposite ends of the rod which forms the two spokes 15 will move said nuts and plates outward to expand the reel, but when said gear is rotated in the opposite direction the nuts and plates will be drawn in to contract the size of the reel. For turning the gear in this manner I engage it with a worm 25 mounted on a shaft 26 which extends through and is journaled in both or all of the hubs of a reel, so that when this shaft is turned in the proper direction the various gears 16 will be turned and all the plates will be distended or retracted as the case may be. It follows that if power is applied to the driving wheel 10 and the reel rotated and at the same time some means is utilized to turn the shaft 26 intermittently in the proper direction, as a strip of paper is fed to the rotating reel the latter will be caused to decrease in size step by step so that a corresponding point between the two figures which may be printed on the strip will fall over the kerf 22 at each revolution of the reel; and after a suiiicient number of thicknesses of the paper strip have been wound on said reel, a knife can be run through said kerf and the paper product will be cut into sheets which will naturally fall oif the reel. The means for turning saidshaft intermittently may be any which will answer successfully, but I prefer that now to be described: On one end of said shaft is a star 'wheel whose fingers 31 engage pins 32 removably inserted within a ring 33 whichis supported by a bracket 34 from one of the uprights 1, and at each revolution of the reel the fingers 31 contact with said pins ber may be employed as shown in Fig. 2.

I have stated above that in Fig. 1 two of these reels are shown superimposed and mounted in bearings on the same pair of uprights, and I prefer to employ two such reels, not only for the saving of space and in order to utilize the services of one workman for two machines, but because there comes a time when the paper wound on each reel is slitted and removed and the reel itself must be expanded before it can be utilized for a second winding. Assume I that the upper reel has thus served its function, and it is now desired to reexpand it;

. a large pulley 35 which is fast on the right hand section 7 of the lower shaft is con-' nected by a belt 36 with a small pulley 37 fast on the worm shaft 26 of the upper reel, as by hooking the extremities of said belt at 38; and thereafter the continued revolu tion of the lower shaft by means of power imparted to its driving wheel 10 will rotate the worm shaft 26 of the upper reel so that its plates 18 will be expanded and it will be prepared to receive another strip of paper. Obviously this can be accomplished without throwing the lower reel out of action, and after it is done the belt is unhooked at 38 or otherwise removed from the pulleys and laid aside, and the upper reel put into action again. Soon the lower reel becomes filled with paper and it is thrown out of action and the paper slitted by running a knife through the groove or kerf 22, and then the action just described is repeated excepting that the belt is put on in a reverse position and made to connect the large pulley on the upper main shaft with the small pulley on the worm shaft of the lower reel in a manner which will be clear. It is quite obvious that, if it were possible to do so, one workman could attend to a gang of these machinesespecially if the product worked upon were extremely thin like paper napkins so that a large number of revolutions were possible to each reel before the stock had-to be cut, because in that case the workman would have ample time to attend to other reels meanwhile. I have purposely refrained from giving the dimensions or materials of part-s, because they are not essential to the present invention. Also lapse either reel as it rotates, and means for detachably connecting its shaft with the mechanism of the other reel for expanding the latter while it is idle.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a pair of reels mounted on independently rotatable shafts, and means for collapsing and distending each reel; of mechanism for actuating said means to collapse either reel as it rotates, said .mechanism including rim-plates, screws for moving them oppositely, and an actuating shaft parallel with the reel-shaft and connected with said screws; and means for detachably connecting the actuating shaft of the idle reel with the reel shaft of the rotating reel.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a pair of reels mounted on independently rotatable shafts, and a large pulley fast on each shaft; of means for collapsing and distending each reel, said means including a small pulley, and a belt adapted to detachably connect either small pulley with the other large pulley, for the purpose set forth.

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a pair of reels mounted on independently rotatable shafts, and means for collapsing and distending each reel; of mechanism for actuating said means to collapse either reel as it rotates, said mechanism including a small pulley, a large pulley on the reel-shaft, and a belt detachably connecting the large pulley of the rotating reel with the small pulley of the idle reel, for the purpose set forth.

. 5. The herein described collapsible reel for paper and the like, the same comprising a shaft, hubs thereon, a pair of spokes rotatably mounted in each hub and threaded at their outerends in reverse directions, long nuts whose bores engage said threaded ends, plates carried by said nuts, means for rotating said shaft to wind the material around said plates, a worm gear fast on each pair of spokes within the hubs, Worms engaging said gears, a shaft on which said worms are mounted, a star wheel on the extremity of said shaft, a fixed ring carried by a suitable support in juxtaposition to said star wheel, and pins removably inserted in said ring and with which the fingers of said star wheel contact as the reel rotates, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a collapsible reel for winding paper and the like, the combination with a shaft, a drive wheel, a plurality of hubs each having a pair of bearings at right angles to the length of said shaft, a rod journaled in said bearings and having its ends oppositely threaded, and a worm gear fast on the rod between said bearings; of nuts engaging the opposite extremities of said rods, plates carried by said nuts, a worm in each hub engaging said worm gear, a shaft journaled through the hubs and on which the worms are fixed, a star wheel fast on this shaft, and pins adjustably mounted in a fixed support and with which the fingers on said star wheel engage as said reel is rotated.

7. In a collapsible reel for winding pa per and the like, the combination with a shaft made in sections whereof the two outermost are mounted in bearings, a drive wheel on one of them, a plurality of hubs having sockets respectively receiving the inner ends of said outermost shaft-sections and the opposite ends of intermediate shaftsections and each hub having a pair of bearings at right angles to the length of said shaft, a rod journaled in said bearings and having its ends oppositely threaded, and a worm gear fast on the rod between said bearings; of nuts engaging the opposite extremities of said rod, plates carried by said nuts, a worm in each hub, a shaft journaled through all the hubs and on which the worms are fixed, a star wheel fast on said shaft, and pins adjustably mounted in a fixed support and with which the fingers on said star wheel engage as said reel is rotated.

8. In a collapsible reel for winding paper and the like, the combination with a shaft made in sections whereof the two outermost are mounted in bearings, a drive wheel on one of them, a plurality of hubs having sockets respectively receiving the inner ends of said outermost shaft-sections and the opposite ends of intermediate shaftsections and each hub having a pair of bearings at right angles to the length of said shaft, a rod journaled in said bearings and having its ends oppositely threaded, and a worm gear fast on the rod between said bearings; of nuts engaging the opposite extremities of said rod, plates carried by said nuts, a worm in each hub, a shaft journaled through all the hubs and on which the worms are fixed, a star wheel fast on the end of said shaft, pins with which the fingers of the star wheel engage as the reel is rotated, a pulley on said worm shaft, a remote and larger pulley, and a belt removably connecting these pulleys for reexpanding said reel when desired.

9. The combination with a pair of uprights having bearings, a pair of reel-shafts journaled therein, manually controlled means for rotating the shafts independently, and on each shaft a plurality of hubs and a large pulley; of rim-plates for each reel, spokes rotatably mounted in said hubs and having threaded connections with 'said plates, shafts journaled off-center in the reels parallel with the reel-shafts and connected with said spokes for turning them, means for turning the off-center shaft as a reel revolves, and detachable means for connecting and revolving the reel with the off-center shaft of an idle reel, for the purpose set forth.

10. In a collapsible reel for Winding paper and the like, the combination with a main shaft, a plurality of hubs having bearings at right angles to the length of said shaft, a rod journaled in said bearings and having its ends oppositely threaded, and a worm gear fast on the rod between said bearings; of nuts engaging the opposite extremities of said rod, plates carried by said nuts, a worm in each hub, a worm shaft journaled through all the hubs parallel with the main shaft, a star wheel fast on the end of said worm shaft, pins with which the fingers'of the star wheel engage as the reel is rotated, a pulley on said worm shaft, aremote and larger pulley, and a belt removably connecting these pulleys for reexpanding said reel when desired.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAVID w HUDSON.

Witnesses:

WALTER GANNARD, A. L. CANNARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. O. 

